How much experience is needed for heavy haul?

Ah, the impetuousness of youth. Nothing like starting at the bottom and working up. 'Cause they had high hopes,,

 

Get a couple cases of beer and start making rounds to your local construction companies

 

Heavy Equipment Transport in Jacksonville, FL
*Paid Training Available
School reimbursement of up to $2,000
(For drivers completing certified driver school)

 

When I was coming up, heavy haul started with 9 axles, non divisible loads.

 

I have to ask…what happened to your license to where you’re just getting it back?

 

In my mind light heavy was/is any oversize or overweight requiring permits up to 7 axle in Canada (8 in USA).

 

I had to do a few 10' wide, then 12' wide, then 14' wide, then over 90' long, then over 14' tall - before they just cut me loose with 20' wide loads.

Without screwing anything up.

And I've never done overweight or anything over 6 axles.

 

Years ago, to hire on off the street as a heavy hauler, everyone wanted to see 10 years driving experience and they’d specifically asked for 9 axles or more. I am sure that you could hire on and work up to the big trailers quicker than 10 years, but off the street, that was the standard I saw.

Northern Alberta and Saskatchewan, 6 axle rigs are quite common. It seems like they haul everything imaginable on those 3 axle oilfield lowboys. Crazy stuff too. It isn’t uncommon to see loads that have to be 25 ft tall or taller.

 

I personally think you can’t even begin to say you do “heavy haul” until to get to multi component trailers. So very minimum 8axle 3+1. But there needs to be clarification. People use the term as a catch all. It’s not a catch all. Oversize and heavy haul are not the same. Oversize has a 100 different sub-niches.

But more importantly the OP isn’t ready for any of it. Not because of experience, although that’s a huge hurdle. I can tell from his post that his mentality and maturity level aren’t there. He’s blaming swift and blaming his trainer for the reasons why he’s where he’s at. The reason he is where is his is because of his choices.

In the specialized world of moving over size freight you are faced with a thousand hurdles and a thousand setbacks every day. You succeed or you fail depending on the choices YOU make. There is no blaming others. So, the state ##’s your route. So, the pilot car is a no show. So, it weighs 15k more. So, it’s 10” wider. So, you missed a turn because reading a permit is like deciphering old English.

There is 10,000 ways to fail everyday. No one wants to hear why you didn’t get the job done. They don’t even want to hear how hard it was to get the job done. They just want the job done. And if you can’t do that then you are no good to anyone.

There is no room for whiners and there is no room for people who don’t accept responsibility in this segment. If that’s you, you will not last long.

 

I beg your pardon, there is definitely room for whining